How's the weather over there - A post for Blog Action Day 2009

This morning I heard on the radio that farmers are staying optimistic for next year as for some, this year's crop is snowed under.

They are looking forward to trying again next year.

I hope the weather improves or at least starts back to normal, but I am also afraid that we are setting the "new normal."

Last week, when it started snowing, I had my first moments of thrill. Admittedly, I love watching the snow float down. Then I realized that it was still the first full week of October and I liked it a little less.

Then it didn't stop.

I would like to point out to Mother Nature that no one sang about dreaming of a white Thanksgiving and that "have a jolly holiday" was less about changing leaves and more about mistletoe.

Our leaves here didn't even have a chance to change: they just dove off the tree freezing cold and still green.

My Thanksgiving plans were cancelled because I wasn't sure how safe the roads out of Prince Albert would be. Road clearing isn't going on because it just shouldn't be snowing yet.

Despite disappointment in not enjoying as much of my favourite time, I am not really surprised.

We were given a mostly ugly summer, with many people complaining about not getting enough good weather to go to the lakes. When we finally got summer it lasted about three weeks ... or so I am told, because I managed to miss the only hot weather that came through Prince Albert.

Is this part of a growing pattern of climate change? Well, the researchers I have spoken to say yes.

Climatologists are moving away from using the phrase "global warming" because that's a pretty hard sell in Saskatchewan right now.

"Global warming? We could use some of that here," seems to be how the joke goes.

But whatever the term, the punchline isn't so funny.

Warmer weather in one part of the Northern Hemisphere, (say British Columbia) caused by El Niño is the same pattern that leads to cold weather on the Prairies because of the way the jetstream works.

It's not just here that the weather is becoming uncomfortable. The other day, I saw the Disney movie "Earth." It talks about animals on our planet and how they live. After watching a great white shark devour a small seal and a pride of lions take down an elephant, the part that bothered me most was the polar bear.

As the Arctic ice grows thinner the bears have less time to hunt. Sometimes bears make poor hunting decisions, while others stray too far out to sea where, without ice to climb on, they eventually drown.

Everything else in the movie was part of the circle of life, but the plight of those polar bears seems to be the fault of humans.

There are those that claim the world is in an endless cycle of hot and cold spells - they might be right, but after the hot comes an ice age ... and seeing as I am not such a fan of the cold, I can do without.

If it is possible that the little things we can do like turning off our lights, eating locally or petitioning our government to control big businesses might make an impact, then wouldn't it be easier just to try?

If that doesn't help, oh well, if you've been turning off lights and using less electricity the worst thing that happens is smaller power bills.

With small steps we hopefully can make a change.

Then, like the farmers, I could also be optimistic about good weather next year and hope no one will sing about the snows of Labour Day.

My column usually appears every Wednesday in the Prince Albert Daily Herald.
Posted on my blog as part of Blog Action Day 2009